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05/01/2012
Assisted Dying Laws "Incoherent"
A commission on assisted dying has concluded that the current laws are "inadequate and incoherent" and have called for a legal framework for the practice.
The Commission on Assisted Dying, launched in November 2010, said in its findings on Thursday that the current legal regime was distressing for the people affected and their families, was unclear for health and social care staff, and a "deeply challenging" burden on police and prosecutors.
The Commission, chaired by Lord Falconer, includes members with expertise in law, medicine, social care, mental health, palliative care, theology, disability and policing.
Funded by the author Sir Terry Pratchett, who has been an outspoken campaigner for a change to the current law, the Commission received over 1,200 responses and engaged in public evidence hearings, international research visits, and original and commissioned research on the issues surrounding assisted dying.
Responding to the findings this morning, the British Humanist Association (BHA) – who have advocated a change to the law - welcomed the call to reform the law but expressed regret that the recommendations were "ethically inconsistent" and "too limited in their scope".
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said: "The law as it stands is not compassionate. It gives no option to those who wish to end their lives without suffering and distress but are unable to do so themselves. The majority of the public support a reform in the law, and we do not believe there are any credible arguments to keep the law as it is. Rational and compassionate people will surely find nothing to disapprove of in the recommendations of the Commission today.
"If anything, we would have liked to have seen the Commission go further and recommend a greater change in the law to allow both assisted dying and voluntary euthanasia."
(DW/GK)
The Commission on Assisted Dying, launched in November 2010, said in its findings on Thursday that the current legal regime was distressing for the people affected and their families, was unclear for health and social care staff, and a "deeply challenging" burden on police and prosecutors.
The Commission, chaired by Lord Falconer, includes members with expertise in law, medicine, social care, mental health, palliative care, theology, disability and policing.
Funded by the author Sir Terry Pratchett, who has been an outspoken campaigner for a change to the current law, the Commission received over 1,200 responses and engaged in public evidence hearings, international research visits, and original and commissioned research on the issues surrounding assisted dying.
Responding to the findings this morning, the British Humanist Association (BHA) – who have advocated a change to the law - welcomed the call to reform the law but expressed regret that the recommendations were "ethically inconsistent" and "too limited in their scope".
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said: "The law as it stands is not compassionate. It gives no option to those who wish to end their lives without suffering and distress but are unable to do so themselves. The majority of the public support a reform in the law, and we do not believe there are any credible arguments to keep the law as it is. Rational and compassionate people will surely find nothing to disapprove of in the recommendations of the Commission today.
"If anything, we would have liked to have seen the Commission go further and recommend a greater change in the law to allow both assisted dying and voluntary euthanasia."
(DW/GK)
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11 September 2015
MPs Debate Assisted Dying Bill
MPs will today, Friday, debate a Private Members Bill on assisted dying, which seeks to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to choose to be provided with medically supervised assistance to end their own life.
MPs Debate Assisted Dying Bill
MPs will today, Friday, debate a Private Members Bill on assisted dying, which seeks to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to choose to be provided with medically supervised assistance to end their own life.
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